Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I didn’t tell Max, but I went to see Dani the next morning. Ever since the day at Maritza’s, Max had obstinately refused to see Dani, and I knew if he found out he might barricade me in my room to stop me.
This time, I wasn’t as na?ve as the last. I listened to Maritza, and I only entered when she told me it was safe. I walked in as she was sweeping a bundle of herbs over Dani’s body.
“Rue and basil,” she explained. “My mother was a curandera, a folk healer.”
Behind her, there was a table of lit candles and a shrine with a photograph of Don Pedrito Jaramillo.*
She saw my look of confusion. Also on the table were crosses and figures from Magiclore, ancient mystics, and early alchemists.
“There is more than one path to God.”
“What does it do?” I asked, gesturing to the herbs.
“It’s to retrieve her lost soul.” She stored the bundle on a shelf, then said quietly, “She is calmer today, but the sedative has made her sleepy. I don’t know if she will hear you.”
“That’s okay, I just wanted to sit with her, if that’s alright.”
Was I hoping something would come out of it? That she’d rasp out who was responsible in her sleep, without resorting to any of the gyrating or trying to throttle me to death like last time? Sure. But I also thought maybe she’d want some company.
She seemed weaker today. I sat beside her and held her hand, just talking to her like I’d want someone to talk to me if I was alone and scared. She didn’t say anything back. Every so often a breath rattled her lungs.
I thought of the only post of Dani on her girlfriend’s social media during their entire relationship together and of Dani’s prized possession, her telescope.
The telescope that had not been given to her by parents, but by a teacher at school.
The council still hadn’t called her parents, but at the same time, Dani’s parents hadn’t called here wondering why they hadn’t heard from their daughter.
I wondered if they were just two more people who overlooked her. I squeezed her hand a little tighter.
All of a sudden, the bed creaked like someone had applied weight to it. Dani lifted into the air, back arching, arms dangling behind her. I jerked my hand back and stood, breath catching in my throat.
“It’s okay,” Maritza said.
“Does she do this often?” I whispered, afraid that Dani would hear me, that somehow, she’d wake and become that terrible thing she was last time we were here.
“Once or twice a day, then she floats back again. I imagine her body doesn’t have enough energy to sustain it.”
It shouldn’t have scared me so much, the levitation. Though it was levitation that was happening while she was unconscious … which shouldn’t have been possible. None of this should’ve been possible.
When I came out of the cottage half an hour later, Max was waiting for me. His hat was tipped low over his face, and his lips were pulled in a firm line.
“Thought we were supposed to meet up. I didn’t realize you were going to see Dani.”
I pretended not to hear the disapproval in his voice. “Sorry, thought I still had some time,” I said, shifting my weight.
He cleared his throat. “So, uh, how is she?”
“Not much change, a little weaker. Maritza’s not staying in there anymore overnight, just watching over her in shifts with Dr. Nguyen and some other staff. I just hope Dani will be alright.”
He seemed to want to say something but hesitated.
A trail of ants marched just behind him, crawling up and under the lip of the doorframe.
Max rubbed his hand over the back of his neck.
“You shouldn’t spend so much time with her, Cel; she’s dangerous.
And we’re not here to fix her. We’re here to figure out what happened so no one else gets hurt. We’re here for the students.”
“She is a student.”
He yanked off his hat, ran his fingers quickly through his hair.
“Cel, for God’s sake. The truth is we’re speculating here—we don’t know what happened.
We have no idea what happened to her, and no idea the residual Magic that could still be on her.
We shouldn’t spend time with her unless absolutely necessary. ”
“Right, got it. You’d rather she just died and became someone else’s problem. Not enough glory in actually helping her, huh?”
He rubbed his temples, his eyes a slate-gray. “That’s not what I said. Not to mention we’re supposed to be working together on this. That doesn’t work when you sneak off without me and question her. I know you have no issues with leaving me behind, but what if something happened to you in there?”
Ah. So that was what was actually bothering him.
“I know you’re used to me being at your beck and call. But this is too important.”
The back of my throat felt hot and dry, and I was tired, so tired, and everything rankled me all of sudden.
It was perfectly fine for him to escape for hours on end to be with his girlfriend, but I couldn’t visit the person we were trying to save.
I felt the same white-hot prickle of annoyance that was in his aura.
It all swirled around and around until we were a mass of tangled threads, festering in each other’s irritation.
He ran his tongue over his teeth. “I never asked for you to be at my beck and call. But is it too much to ask that we conduct the investigation together. As a team?”
I scoffed. “When have we ever been a team? It’s always been the great Max Middlemore and whatever groupie tags along after him. Look, I’m sorry that my ambitions for my life weren’t to be your housewife, but you’re just going to have to get over it.”
He sucked on his teeth, an angry red flush creeping up his throat. “She’s not Aaron, Cella! Dani wasn’t bullied into killing someone.”
My chest went cold. He could’ve slapped me in the face and I wouldn’t have been more surprised. My tone turned icy. “No, he was just bullied into killing himself, but thanks for bringing that up. I love thinking about it. Great to be reminded that I wasn’t there for him.”
He ran his hands down his face. “Shit, Cel, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant—”
I only saw red. “I’m not going to abandon her just because you and everyone else here thinks she deserves to burn in Hell. I’ve felt like an outcast before, too. Hated by nearly everyone, including you.”
His mouth worked furiously to backpedal. “Now, hold on here. I have never hated you. Come on now, wait—”
I stormed off before I had to listen to any more.
I should’ve figured we couldn’t do this together, that we couldn’t work together for two freaking seconds without fighting. There was too much between us that had been built up and torn down again, and I was getting sick of thinking of it every time I looked at him.
Tomorrow, I would go back to the library, and I would stare at those damn books until I found out what had happened to her. I would search through every ounce of information they had on curses, on levitation, on hexes. Anything I could find—everything I could find.
But for now, I would sleep. And try not to imagine throwing a brick at Max’s face.
I got to my dorm and closed the front door of House Torlaine too loudly behind me, causing the hinges to rattle.
“Shhh,” came an angry voice from the front desk. My chest flared all over again.
Here I was, back at school, even though I was twenty-nine years old and long since graduated. I shut my own door with a snap and resolved to direct my fury toward helping Dani.
I was going to find out what was wrong with her, and Max or no Max, I’d damn well fix her, if it was the last thing I did.